Startup foundry attracts major players

A new company, Optical Micro Devices Ltd. (OMD; Swindon, England) has announced the appointments of Dennis Taylor and Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany to its board of directors. OMD is a fiber and micro-optic component foundry, offering customized design and manufacture of silicon microbench devices, as well as PLC devices for advanced communication systems using its proven silica-on-silicon technology. Taylor is now chairman of the board of OMD, and Kapany is also the chairman of K2Optronics, another new startup based in California whose activities complement those of OMD. Commented OMD's CEO, Kevin D. Ford, "Dr. Kapany has been involved with fiberoptics since its inception and is widely regarded as "the father of optoelectronics. We believe he represents a strong endorsement of our technology, and we look forward to a growing relationship between the two companies. Dennis Taylor, former managing director of Hewlett Packard UK and former chairman of IOC, is also well versed in this high-tech area. He successfully guided IOC into a sale to SDL that has been beneficial to all parties involved. We are very happy to have both of them on-board."